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“You have more control over the outcome of a situation than you may think.” I told that to my son and he first looked at me like I’ve been smoking the wacky tobacky or something. But then it sank in and he started picking up what I was laying down.

It started out with laundry. One of my kids’ jobs around the house is they have to put away their laundry when I’m done washing it and folding it. My son and even one of my daughters were asking me why I wasn’t turning their shirts right-side out when I folded them. I told them because it took long enough to wash and fold their clothes by itself and that I didn’t have time to do that as well. They didn’t like that answer, but they accepted it. The next time was with my son’s socks. At the end of the day, he would take off his socks so that they were wadded up into a big “sock ball” and then just threw it in the dirty clothes all wadded up like that. Of course, you know what happened when it came time to put away his clothes: He DID NOT like that his socks were a big damp blob. I told him it was because that was how he put them into the dirty clothes, and therefore, that’s how they came out. “I’m sorry this happened, Son. Is there anything you could have done differently when you put your dirty clothes in the basket that could have helped this situation?”

🙂 Logical consequences for your actions…or inaction.

If you think about it, it doesn’t matter what you’re talking about: In life, our choices always have consequences and ramifications. I’ve typically been the type of parent that would “get on my son’s case” to turn his socks right-side out before he put them in the laundry basket…but he would never do it! It used to frustrate me so much. A good friend of mine in the Real Estate industry with me is the one who suggested the “laundry idea” as a way to try to get my kids to change their behavior. So far so good!

Also, I want to thank Dianna for the recent talk we had about this dynamic with kids. She is the one who shared the “logical consequences” label with me. I’m trying to use this as a way to improve how I parent and how I get my kids to change some of these behaviors. Think about what happens as a result of the choices you make in life. Makes sense, doesn’t it!? Logical consequences.